Once Upon a Time: ‘Your magic is limited by its rotten core.’

The initial scene between August and Mr. Gold may have seemed on the surface as yet another failed Operation Cobra mission, but it isn’t until much later that we see that there is much more to this encounter (more later on that front). August may have come by his sneakiness genetically (is it who you think it is?), but no one is as good as Mr. Gold. “I thought this was the entrance?” Really? Mr. Gold could snore something more believable. I may not like him, but I respect his talents in certain areas.

Given that it is the other parties in his “deals” that generally want them to be broken, when he mentions that he made one deal *he* had to break, we should have known that we’d find out what it was. We also see his one true vulnerability: his son. It must be hard having a — whatever Rumplestilskin is — as a father. In trying to protect his son, he’s made it so that no one wants to be his friend. Plus, his father is busy turning people into snails.

Dr. Whale returns. He must be the only doctor in the Storybrooke hospital.

Kathryn is also awake and not remembering a whole lot from her captivity. I would gladly volunteer to be the stunt forehead for Josh Dallas to kiss. Just saying…

Hallmark needs to jump on those “glad you’re not guilty” cards. I’ve noticed they’ve been branching out into new occasions, and there might be a small market at least in e-cards. Or maybe that thought is just better expressed in cards made by children.

Emma’s reaction to Sidney’s, um, non-reaction to her question as to whether he was in love with Regina was priceless: “Yeah. Whatever.” I’m leaning a bit toward “ewww,” but we know their history. I think for henchmen and toadys to really be good at their work, there needs to be a bit of love/admiration there. Money can only motivate you to do so much.

Rumple does have a point: Mutes *can* draw pictures. Not that it excuses killing the maid.

What happened to the rest of the magic beans? Does Jack (of beanstalk fame)have them?

Run, Mary Margaret, run! David says he loves you, but if he loved you that much, he should have known the kind of person you were and trusted you, no matter how “good” the setup was. Charming would have followed Snow through hell and back, fought for her and proved she was innocent. I’m still completely intrigued how David was formed via that curse and how Charming’s personality changed so drastically.

So, who is August? The show was leading us to think he was Baelfire, son of Rumple, but not so fast. Rumors are that he might be Pinocchio (perhaps his pains are that he is converting back to wood?). He is from StoryBookLand and he knows about the knife and who everyone is and Henry’s book, but what is his motivation in helping Henry? Why is he changing the pages of the book? How does the Blue Fairy/Mother Superior fit in to August’s scheme? What happened to the real Baelfire? Is he somewhere in Storybrooke? Do we know him? Does he know himself?

Only on a show like OUaT can a character utter a line like “Ever since you crossed the barriers of time and space” and have it sound like a normal thing.

Rumple says “my son chose this place” which is how they specifically ended up in Storybrooke. However, in his conversation with the Blue Fairy, we find out that a curse is the only way he will ever be reunited with his son (and may relate to his bad history with the fairies). So, the curse’s true aim is not punishing Snow and Charming, but in helping Rumple reunite with his son. A little evil is just a side benefit for him.

We didn’t see much of Regina this episode (not that I’m complaining), but her showdown with Emma was a good one. No one gets between a mother and her son, and Emma is having no more of Regina’s nonsense. I wouldn’t put it past Sidney to truly have kidnapped Kathryn, but it was Regina that put the bug in his ear.